Praise God...

He accepted the plea agreement and pled guilty. He will serve five years in prison and seven years of sex offender probation, plus he will have to register as a sexual predator for the rest of his life. I cannot thank God enough for his mercy in bringing this to a close the way he did and sparing my baby girl from having to testify. I feel that he should have to spend the rest of his life in prison for what he did, but I've prayed all along for God's will and I accept the way He has chosen to resolve this hideous situation. Now, maybe we can turn the page and get on with our lives.

When the prosecutor came in on Tuesday morning he announced that the pedophile was "waffling" on the terms of the plea and might be persuaded to accept if a lesser number of years could be offered. He also announced that the pedophile's sister was prepared to take the stand and testify that I had confided in her that he was abusing me and that I had made a statement to her that alluded to the fact that I had it in for him and was going to make him pay. It was something to that affect and totally ludicrous. That is one thing that I can say about him - he never raised a hand to me. Ever. She was willing to perjure herself to keep her brother from going to prison. The sad thing is that the jury probably would have believed her since she, herself, had spent the last years of her career as a public servant, and retired from a position in this state as a hearing officer.

The pedophile finally accepted the plea when he was granted his wish to not be sentenced until January. I guess he wants to spend the holidays with his family. His mother probably won't be alive in five years when he gets out of prison. It was very sad to see her sit and cry in chambers when we had to sit and listen to the judge read the charges and question the pedophile and his choice to enter a plea agreement. If I had to sit and listen to my son accept a guilty plea on sex crime charges against a child I would be mortified and cry my eyes out, too. He brought it all on himself, though. His actions has caused grief on both sides. My mother sits and cries, too, because of what he did to Baby. She broke down just this morning telling me that this situation and the horror that Baby has been through hurts her as bad as when my brother died, if not worse.

I think what it all boiled down to in the end, though, was that he ultimately didn't want this to go to trial because he didn't want his family to have to watch the videotaped interview and hear Baby tell what he had done to her. She is so very brave and, as scared as she was, she was prepared to take the stand and tell her story. She was going to speak out in honor of all the little boys and girls who had suffered the same fate and kept their secret silent. I'm so proud of her.